The United Nations Human Rights Treaty System

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt played a key role, as committee chair, in drafting this Declaration, which proclaims a common standard of achievement for all countries. Article 1 states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

One important function of the Declaration has been to provide a baseline for the elaboration of international human rights treaties. As the attached table indicates, the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System is currently comprised of 15 human rights treaties (8 treaties and 7 optional protocols), plus another treaty and protocol that will each become a part of the system once ratified by the requisite number of countries. Most Optional Protocols serve the purpose of implementing their main treaty (e.g.allowing an individual to present a grievance); others, however, such as the two optional protocols to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child are substantive treaties in their own right.

These 15 treaties (+2) are listed in the attached table, along with the year of General Assembly approval, number of States parties and signatories, whether the U.S is a State party or not, U.S. limitations (see below), whether the U.S. is a signatory or not and amount of change in states parties and signatories since May 1, 2010. The attached table is current as of August 6, 2010. (Please note that the United Nations has 192 member states) Here is some additional information about the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System (1) When a country signs a treaty it is expressing its intention to become a party at some future date, and in the meantime,it is obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty; (2) When a country ratifies a treaty, it becomes bound by the treaty's provisions; (3) A treaty enters into force when it has been ratified by a requisite number of countries. Then a committee is formed to monitor the observance by treaty parties of its provisions. Committee members are chosen only from those countries that have ratified the treaty; (4) A country may ratify a treaty adding reservations, understandings and declarations that limit the full applicability of the treaty for itself. Examination of the attached table shows that the United States has added reservations, understandings and/or declarations to each of the three treaties and two protocols that it has ratified. (e.g.,the United States has declared all three of these treaties to be "not self-executing").

In 2009 the United States took two important steps:(1) It joined the Human Rights Council, the 47-member body responsible for advancing and monitoring adherence to human rights around the world and (2) Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Examination of the accompanying Table indicates that (1) since May 1, signatories were added for 3 of the 17 treaties and ratifiers were added for 10 and (2) the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights remain the only two that have not yet entered into force. The Convention added 1 ratifier and now has 19 of the 20 States parties that are required; the Protocol for which only 10 are required, now has 2. El Salvador ratified in June and Mongolia in July.

This Table will be updated quarterly for this ACLU-NC website. Updates will be referenced when possible in LIBERTY, the ACLU-NC's quarterly newsletter. The next update will report treaty status as of November 1, 2010. We welcome your comments/questions/suggestions.

Slater Newman and Judith Blau
August 6, 2010